Totowa father, son shutting Army Navy shop in Paterson after 54 years

From left are John Bethea, 57, of Paterson, with Totowa's Councilman John Waryas Jr. and his father John Waryas Sr., owners of Main Army Navy, which the father-son team are closing up after 54 years in business.

TOTOWA — After 54 years of running an Army Navy store on Main Street in Paterson wedged between a floor covering store and a furniture shop, a local father-son team are packing it in.

Totowa Councilman John Waryas Jr., and his father John Waryas Sr., who wore matching grey sweatshirts and blue jeans during an interview at Main Army Navy last month, once had a shop full of boots, pants, shirts and many manner of Army and Navy gear, but now, after selling off the remaining merchandise, the shop is a hollowed out husk - just a shadow of the enterprise it once was.

"This used to be all back here jackets and shoes and up front were your pants, sweatshirts, socks, thermal underwear, regular underwear, gloves, hats," said Waryas Jr., 56, motioning to empty shelves at the store. "You name it - we sold it."

Waryas Sr., now 79, started working at the shop when it was known as G.I. Jimmy's in 1948 and took ownership of the store in 1959.

The shop had previously been at two locations, one on Upper Main Street and one on Broadway before they moving to the location at 343 Main St., and expanding in 1977.

"We're going out on good terms, on a high note after a successful season," said Waryas Sr. He also said that they are tired of working the long hours and are leaving while they are still in good health.

"I'm tired of having dinner every night at 9 p.m." said Waryas Jr.

The father and son have seen the fashion trends in the Army Navy surplus business change over time.

"Back in the late 50s Army Navy stores, of which there were seven at one time in Paterson, used to sell mostly used military surplus mostly from World War II, but when you got to the 60s it became an in place to go shopping. Bellbottom dungarees, that was the start of trendy fashion items, Army boots, field jackets and then denim really became big," Waryas Jr. said.

They carried flannel shirts, sweatshirts, T-shirts and they always catered to the working person, who wore every day clothes, Waryas Jr. said. Dickies and Carhartt were some of the more popular brands, he said.

And in addition to providing goods, the store provided a service.

"My father used to fix pants right away, no charge in about two minutes," the son said. The elder added that he would make the free fix even when the pants came from another store.

Over the years, the store developed commercial accounts, with towns and school systems, and even helped to revive some Boy Scout troops by supplying them with military style clothes at a time when Boy Scout uniforms were unpopular, Waryas Jr. said.

But there were some tough times as Waryas Sr. recalls boarding up the store every night during riots in the 60s.

"When I was young, back in the 60s, there were race riots in Paterson, and my father had to board up the store every night with plywood," Waryas Jr. said.

His father added, "And a couple of times I stayed here overnight."

Waryas Jr. says that the neighborhood never saw problems with crime because of the stabilizing factors created by government buildings in the area and a guarded jail across the street.

"The one thing about this neighborhood is its never changed in all the years we've been here because you have the courthouse, you have St. John's Cathedral, you have the Passaic County Jail, and you have the Board of Social Services building," Waryas Jr. said.

So the business grew through the years surviving while others of its kind faded away. "We became the only Army Navy Store left," Waryas Jr. said. "A lot of others closed up. Other people retired. Some, unfortunately passed away, but no one took over their stores."

Waryas Jr. said that key to their business was maintaining their relationships with customers.

One such loyal customer, John Bethea, 57, will miss the clothes he once purchased at the Army Navy store.